MPAA warns Google on infringement notices

By IBT Staff Reporter On 02/10/11 AT 6:55 AM

Google stands the risk of being disconnected from its primary source of bread and butter, the internet, if there is any bite to Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) warning that chides Google for copyright infringement.

TorrentFreak reported that MPAA has sent a number of copyright infringement notices to Google. The letters warning users have been targeted at users of Google's Wi-Fi service and also to certain Google employees in the company headquarters. The notice warns that if the warning is not heeded, then Google risks getting unplugged from the internet.

Google has received close to 100 copyright notices from MPAA and affiliated movie studios.

TorrentFreak reports that major movie studios take part in the yearly ritual of sending thousands of warnings to internet users who are culpable to sharing content through BitTorrent and other file-sharing sites.

Movie studios employ companies like BayTSP and MediaSentry to track users who are involved in sharing certain titles. The companies jump into the bandwagon and request for content from others. Once someone shares content with them they immediately file the IP-address and issue a warning letter to the user, primarily directing it to larger ISPs.

TorrentFreak cites a letter detailing the warning issued: Copyright infringement also violates your ISP's terms of service and could lead to limitation or suspension of your Internet service. You should take immediate action to prevent your Internet account from being used for illegal activities.

The report comes just days after MPAA filed a lawsuit against the download hub service Hotfile Feb. 8. The lawsuit claims that Hotfile's business model encourages and incentivizes users to upload files containing illegal copies of motion pictures and TV shows to its servers and to third-party sites, so unlimited users can download the stolen content - in many cases tens of thousands of times.

Currently cloud-based digital locker services have come under the copyright scanner. Unlike the BitTorrent services users don't have to download software but can directly access content stored in the cyber locker like Hotfile.

MPAA stated that Hotfile has become one of the 100 most trafficked sites in the world. It sued both Hotfile and its owner Anton Titov charging them of abetting users to store copyrighted material in their cyber locker and of perpetrating distribution of copyrighted material.

TorrentFreak, however, claims that MPAA's stance against Google does not really count for much as copyright holders usually use such strong language but never end up in serious litigation.

What Is describes BitTorrent as a peer-to-peer sharing protocol that works on the model whereby instead of sending a complete download to a user requesting a file, the distributor sends the content to one customer who then forwards it to others. Thus clients share portions of content back and forth until everyone has the complete content. Thus reducing the amount of bandwidth required for large files.

MPAA or the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries and its members include Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLLP; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.